Budget Car Rental Dublin Airport in Dublin

Right. Let me credential myself. I travel a lot. I've hired cars many times. This is one of worst efforts in 40 years of hiring. I've had worse but not much worse. I booked through Priceline one of those car hire 3rd parties. I specifically chose to pay extra for damage waiver. Many had none. Anyway, you can see from the quote below, we expected a Renault Clio or similar. We got a Dachia (110k on the clock, really old and base level car, scratches and bumps literally all over, no electronically screen, manual side mirrors, an engine that seriously felt like it would die soon, a tire pressure light indirectly stating low pressure - checked and pressure was fine). Seriously. This was the worst car in the lot. We should have complained there and then. But were were tired, we hate complaining. I sent an email to their customer support. I was totally founded of by Brian. Email below too. So Budget Ireland sucks and will not get my business again. I used Avis 2 weeks before in the UK and the experience was the reverse. Thanks for reading. "Car Type: Renault Clio or similar Make / model not guaranteed Unlimited Mileage Manual Transmission Air Conditioning" "Hi Craig, Thank you for taking the time to respond to our survey. Your feedback is important to us. My name is Brian, I am the customer service manager here at Budget Car Rental Ireland. I'm sorry to hear that the car you were provided was not up to our usual standards. We always ensure that our cars are checked prior to being assigned & are regularly services. If customers are unsatisfied with the car provided, they can always request an alternative. This being said, I have forwarded your feedback to the garage management team & will engage with the location staff in training to ensure all of our cars are sufficiently presented going forward. Kind regards, Brian."

If I could give zero stars, I would. My experience with Budget at the Ireland airport was a complete disaster from the moment we walked up to the counter. We had a confirmed reservation, but the desk clerk acted like we were inconveniencing him by even being there. Apparently, our booking was "incorrect" (despite having a confirmation email), and instead of helping us fix the issue, the guy behind the desk seemed more interested in being rude and dismissive. When we calmly asked for clarification, he flipped the situation around, accusing us of being rude! Things went from bad to worse when he abruptly canceled our reservation without explanation and ordered us to leave. So there we were, standing outside in the cold, trying to find another car while he threatened to call the police if we didn't leave fast enough. Absolutely shocking behavior for a service industry employee. Save yourself the frustration and avoid Budget at all costs. Incompetent staff, awful service, and they seem more interested in kicking customers out than helping them.

No pre-rental inspection of the vehicle was done by the staff at the rental counter and the established process was to sign the rental agreement (which apparently detailed existing damages) before the vehicle was shown to the consumer. Strange. Took a 2000EUR deposit (quite above average). Minor scratches upon return of vehicle was discovered in the return inspection. Budget deducted 790EUR (!!!) for the damages from the credit card deposit without a mutually agreed direction to proceed. Look at the scratches in uploaded picture - estimate of repairs seems quite overstated?! Asked for documentation of damages recorded pre-rental to prove that below damage was caused by my usage. No response from the team. Maintained that damage was not caused by my usage but Budget has not had the good faith to provide the full set of documentation to prove otherwise and appeared overly trigger happy to make the $$ deduction from the deposit. Disappointing. Hope public reviews such as this can raise awareness from the company for some proper service recovery actions.

Be aware and check every damage on the car and see if they match the paperwork they give you. There was a little scratch on the windscreen and they wanted to charge 500 euro for that. The scratch was already there when they gave us the car and luckily it appeared on the paperwork too. But they tried to scam us. It took 30 minutes to sort it out. Also we had to change the car because of an engine issue. We called them, nobody answered, we had to go to Belfast to change the car (we were already in Northern Ireland when the issue appeared). Be careful with them!

***update 20/9/2024 Please see pictures of the car , still in your car park , which confirms the car is not checked. It was delivered to me with a tyre safety warning light on. The damage speaks for itself , major damage and possibly also a safety issue as the strength of the door has been compromised. The experience was lengthy enough , I asked for a different car prior to seeing it and was told nothing available. The experience was lengthy enough and abrupt, I just wanted out of there as we were heading to a wedding. No time for more arguments , diversions to other locations etc.. my expectation is that Budget is a reputable brand and should have done all this beforehand Worst car ever rented and rude service . Car was delivered 1hr after booked collection time, it had 86,000 km on it , had a large dent from a recent crash covering two side doors, seats stained, stank of smoke, and was delivered to me with the tyre pressure warning light on. The remote itself was even selotaped to hold it together. I have reported to customer service, no answer in 2 days, hence the post to make others aware. I rent a lot, wouldn't go here again and possibly would avoid Budget elsewhere as I expected a lot better from such a high profile brand.

Be very careful when renting a car from budget, Dublin Airport. I booked a flight to Ireland and had the option to rent a car at the same time it was with budget Rent-A-Car Dublin airport. When I got to the counter, everything went OK I signed the rental agreement for one week they swiped my credit card and took a deposit. Then I got a shuttle bus to the outskirts of the airport to pick up the car. I went inside the office to pick up the keys. The lady at the counter told me I would receive the documents and damage report by email. When I went out to the car I noticed a lot of scratches,dents,badly fixed front bumper, and stained seats. So I checked my email to see if I had received the rental agreement and damage report. I did not receive it. I went back to the counter and spoke with two girls. i asked for the rental agreement and the damage report they said they can only email it to me. The reason I did not receive it is because they took down my email incorrect. The girl took a screenshot of the damage report before I picked up the car and on the damage report was far less scratches and dents on the report. so I asked her can I have an up-to-date one she told me no just go outside and make a video of the car. I explained to the girl I was dropping the car back at 4 AM. I asked her can somebody come outside to look at the car and give me an up-to-date damage report. (Apparently the damage report was one week old )The two girls got annoyed because I was asking for an up-to-date damage report she arrogantly said make a video and it'll be OK when you return the car. I asked her can I have that in writing or can I record you saying this. Again she got very annoyed and canceled my rental contract. I asked to speak to the manager. I told him I did not agree with them canceling my contract, the manager was equally arrogant, so I asked him to print me a canceled contract with no cancellation fees. he was very annoyed that I asked him for this. all the staff at this office were extremely rude. The manager signed his name to the contract Martin Kilmainham..I am pretty sure this is a made-up name. (I noticed on the rental contract the odometer has 96150 kilometers on it. the cars dashboard has 86163 km not sure if it has been tampered with)They left me stranded at the outskirts of the airport at 9:30 at night.(they don't care look at all of the reviews not good.) when i went outside i could hear all the staff laughing. They thought this was very funny.. Customer service does not exist.. Avoid this company.

Would give 0 stars if i could. Rented car at Avis/Budget Dublin Airport. we got the car that you would not call in one piece.... 1) i was unable to find not damaged side on the car and we had a lot of concerns over safety of it 2) all side was scored , bumpers cracked and kept together using sallow tape ( see pictures) 3) coolant level insufficient was constantly giving errors on dashboards 4) We had to clean car inside.. contacted Avis/Budget next day after rent as it was late evening to get sorted. took them 5 days to go back with copy/paste apologetic email without any resolution proposed. we had to re-plan trip in Ireland as we were not comfortable using this car for longer journeys.

The worst car rental service I've ever experienced while travelling. The desk agent was extremely rude, when in Ireland all rental cars automatically have liability insurance. You need coverage for collision/loss & damage, this is included with most travel credit cards. First the agent lied and said you couldn't decline the insurance and that there is no liability. Another agent corrected him when I pressed. However to use it they make you pay 34 euros to sign a letter stating you have it and give you, your wife, and infant crying child a lecture on the Irish financial system for 15 minutes. It took all my restraint not to cancel the rental right there. Then to annoy you even further the desk clerk keeps referring to it as you having "no insurance" despite you explaining to him that you have a certificate of insurance. Next comes the best part. The car they rented out has over 100,000 km on it and is damaged on literally ever body panel. See attached photos.